New director general Tony Hall takes helm at BBC

Tony Hall will begin the job of repairing the BBC's battered reputation when he takes up the role of director general today.

Lord Hall, who started out as a BBC trainee 40 years ago, will spend part of his first day in the office speaking to staff at the corporation, which has been beset with problems since the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal came to light.

New BBC Director General Tony Hall. Credit: Press Association

In addition, the former BBC news executive also has low staff morale to contend with, a fact highlighted by last week's strike in a row over jobs, workload and claims of bullying.

When previous director general George Entwistle stepped down in November after a Tory peer was mistakenly implicated in child abuse claims on BBC2's Newsnight, Lord Hall was the only candidate contacted by the BBC Trust.

Before being offered the £450,000-a-year post, Lord Hall had been chief executive of the Royal Opera House, a job he took up in 2001.